Abstract
In this paper, the self-sensing and mechanical properties of concrete structures strengthened with a novel type of smart
basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) bars were experimentally studied, wherein the sensing element is Brillouin
scattering-based distributed optical fiber sensing technique. First, one of the smart bars was applied to strengthen a 2m
concrete beam under a 4-points static loading manner in the laboratory. During the experiment, the bar can measure the
inner strain changes and monitor the randomly distributed cracks well. With the distributed strain information along the
bar, the distributed deformation of the beam can be calculated, and the structural health can be monitored and evaluated
as well. Then, two smart bars with a length of about 70m were embedded into a concrete airfield pavement reinforced by
long BFRP bars. In the field test, all the optical fiber sensors in the smart bars survived the whole concrete casting
process and worked well. From the measured data, the concrete cracks along the pavement length can be easily
monitored. The experimental results also confirmed that the bars can strengthen the structures especially after the
yielding of steel bars. All the results confirm that this new type of smart BFRP bars show not only good sensing
performance but also mechanical performance in the concrete structures.
